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Location: Nyack, New York Date: October 29, 1992 Story On the morning of October 29, 1992, at Nyack Middle School in Nyack, New York, the 8th graders in Al Pesner's P.E. class headed out to the playing field for a game of flag football. It was second period class. "When we reached the upper field, I directed the students to take their warm-up lap," said Al. 13-year-old Andre Gilbert and Nick Graziano were jogging together that morning. "Andre and I were the best of friends. I was jogging right beside him," said Nick. When they came around a corner, he said, "Andre, let's speed up and catch up to the rest of the class." Andre said, "No, I don’t want to speed up." He looked tired and his face was red, almost like he was blushing but a lot more. He started slowing down and Nick asked him what was wrong. Before he could answer, he collapsed. Al went over to him and tried to ask Andre if he was all right, but he didn't respond. At first, he thought someone tripped him. Then he thought he was having a seizure. He told Roger, one of the students, to go get the school nurse. Suddenly, Andre stopped breathing. Al shouted to the rest of the students to go get help and tell the nurse to call an ambulance right away. He started giving him mouth-to-mouth being his thoughts changed from a seizure to an air blockage. He thought Andre may have been choking on a piece of candy.“ I thought I lost him. I though I might not see him again. He just looked dead.” said Nick as he looked back at Andre, leaving the field. Al still tried to revive Andre as best he could. Al breathed into him and got the sound of his tongue flapping through his mouth. He then knew there wasn't an air blockage. “Panic started to set in, I’m not going to fool anybody I was really scared. I’m looking at a 13-year-old boy and he might not walk out of my class,” Al explained. He checked for a pulse on both sides, but couldn't get one. Meanwhile, the students went to the office to tell the secretary about the accident that happened on the upper field to Andre. P.E. teacher Tony Boffa and another teacher came to see if they could help. Al told Tony what happened. They both pumped on Andre's chest and he regurgitated which was good. He started breathing, and Tony secured a pulse. Finally, the ambulance arrived, led by paramedic Vincent Romano. Tony explained to him what had happened to Andre, who opened his eyes 20 minutes after oxygen and was hooked up to an electrocardiogram. Al felt good when Andre was revived. He was diagnosed with a rare heart arrhythmia that can cause sudden death while exercising, which he now takes medicine. Andre is now under the care of pediatric cardiologist Sveum Myrons of Columbia Presbyterian Babies and Children's Hospital. "When he exercised that one time, his heartbeat was abnormally fast, so fast that the heart was no able to fill. Therefore the heart was not able to pump blood. This is considered to be a very, very serious problem for him. Therefore he is not allowed to engage in any sport activities even as mild as bicycle riding and running down the street, he's not permitted to do," said Sveum. Andre’s mother, Josette, is trying to help him adjust to the changes in his life. "He was very depressed at first; he's a kid who gets on his bike in the morning and doesn’t get off of it until night. He's the same kid, but just has restrictions," said Josette. "I can’t ride my bike, play basketball, or go to karate, which are things that I like to do. I want to do them but have to listen to what the doctor says," said Andre. A week later, while Andre was still in the hospital, Josette went to thank Al and Tony for what they did to save Andre. If Al didn’t know how to do CPR, Andre wouldn't have made it. Andre is now his assistant and the softball unit umpire and thankful for what Al did for him. "When I see Mr. Pesner, I say, 'Here goes the coolest guy I know,'" concludes Andre. Category:1992 Category:New York Category:Cardiac Arrest Category:School